“Seymour: An Introduction”

Directed by Ethan Hawke

In Woody’s “Crimes and Misdemeanors”, the characters played by Woody and Mia Farrow collaborate on a documentary featuring a slight, older Jewish philosophy professor, named Louis Levy, whose views of life are positive, life-affirming, engaging, mid-Century continental and intelligent. In making “Seymour”, Ethan Hawke appears to have found the ACTUAL Levy to profile in this lovely film, except this “Professor” is a world-class, classical piano coach. Seymour Bernstein is engaging, smart, comfortable in his own skin, and seems genuinely amused at the hub bub. Much like dinner with someone unexpectedly interesting, it’s 90 minutes of smiles. Of course, Hawke has always been a self-aware performer and, go figure, he’s an equally self-aware documentary filmmaker, but that’s a small criticism and shouldn’t keep you from enjoying this small gift of human/celluloid interaction.
Trailer here: